Duality
by The Velocity Of Jellybeans
Summary: Life and death, love and hate, ying and yang; Sasuke and Naruto are forever opposites, eternal rivals, that share an unbreakable bond. And when they are together, they exist in harmony, even if they themselves do not realise it. Sasunaru,one-shot.


**A/N - Phew, haven't wrote one of these in a while. So, hi there. **

**Here's my little confession; I'm a newbie slash writer. Yes, I was originally a Twilight-fangirl... up until that point when I found anime, yaoi and so many other wonderous things. **

**If you are reading this because you had me on author alert from Flip-side, erm, yeah, I probably won't be writing much like that anymore. I try, but I've lost my passion for Twilight, and that whole 'boy-meets-girl-bang-boom-happy-ending' thing.**

**Basically; Old me = writes nice, safe, unimaginative heterosexual romance-type stuffs.**

**New me = writes (hopefully good!) slash/yaoi/shounen-ai stuff. Still romance, but with boys and angst :D**

**Warnings: Yaoi/Slash/Shounen-ai - Boys who like boys, or happen to have fallen for a boy. If that squicks you out, disgusts you or just isn't your cup of tea, please don't read. A little language and kissing (oh, and two guys sleeping in the same bed, nothing more)**

**Rated: T (13+)**

**Disclaimer: Sasuke, Naruto and all the characters belong to Kishimoto Masashi, not me. Though he does let me be write fangirlish things about his two main characters -giggles-**

* * *

**Duality - A SasuNaru Oneshot**

_Duality - Noun - The state or quality of being two or in two parts._

* * *

Even when he was chained to the wall of a dark cell, drained of chakra, with droplets of blood staining his pale skin, Sasuke Uchiha did not look weak.

He did not look tired, or fearful or even bored; in fact, his expression was nonexistant. Each feature of his face was schooled into a neutral mask, his eyes were deep onyx in colour and free of all emotion, his body held perfectly still as he sat with his wrists cuffed against the wall. If not for the regular sound of his breathing, it would have been easy to believe that Sasuke was no longer alive. Because he certainly did not look very human.

For that brief moment, Naruto Uzumaki allowed himself to relax in the knowledge that Sasuke was not dead, but was back home and safe, albeit in one of Konoha's cells for S-Class criminals. Not that the other boy - odd as it was to think of him as a boy - really seemed to notice his surroundings.

Well, Naruto ammended, not that he cared about them. As a shinobi, and especially with his mentality, Sasuke was constantly aware of every inch of the area around his person. In fact, at that precise moment, Naruto knew that Sasuke would notice the slight drop in air temperature due to a recently opened window whilst simultaniously keeping watch of the coldly dissaproving guard that was on duty. Because Sasuke was a good ninja, a genius, and additionally, he was pathologically distrusting of everyone he met.

Walking forward with the silent grace that only a Konoha jounin posessed, the blond boy curled his hands around the metal bars at the front of Sasuke's cell. He studied his friend's stoic expression as the raven impassively kept his dark eyes on the cold stone flooring. Neither boy felt the need to meet the other's gaze; it was an action best kept for when they had time to talk privately and challenge each other both emotionally and physically.

"I was going to tell you how lucky you are to be alive, bastard, but somehow I didn't think you'd want to waste your time hearing about the people who fought for you." Naruto's voice was scathing, tinged with anger and betrayal that could not be buried by the joy of having the Uchiha back in the village.

Sasuke remained silent and unmoving, as Naruto knew he would.

"They still worship you. Despite the crap you've done and all the people you've hurt, you're still their prodigal son." The blond sighed; the bitterness was pointless and petty. Childish. "It hurt us when you left, Sasuke." he watched as the other boy tensed at the sound of his own name sounding from Naruto's mouth.

They both knew that by 'us', Naruto had been talking about his and Sasuke's bond more than his teammates feelings. They also both knew that Sasuke would never apologuise for his actions and that Naruto would never expect him to. Neither of them particularly cared right now.

"They're giving you three months of ANBU surveillance, then you can take the jounin exams and start rebuilding your clan." the blond snorted. "Bet you can't wait to have mini-bastards making us all feel inferior, right, Uchiha?"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed in irritation.

"Hn."

The typical answer sounded slightly annoyed and Naruto grinned in triumph. He always prided himself on being one of the only people to be able to consistantly prise a reaction from the stony Uchiha. It was the only way that Naruto could prove that Sasuke was truly human.

Folding his arms across his chest, the eighteen year old blond kicked one of the metal bars absently. He smiled slightly in Sasuke's direction and began making hand signals.

"Welcome home, Sasuke." he said sadly before disappearing from the cold, dark prison in a small puff of grey smoke.

Sasuke Uchiha simply closed his eyes and lent his head back against the freezing stone as he contemplated how, despite his betrayal, his village still refused to let him die.

* * *

Despite only having joined Konoha's ANBU ranks two months ago, the Cat was already one of the most feared shinobi in the squad. His power was nearly equal to that of his partner, the legendary Fox, and together the pair were the most deadly and terrifying weapon in Konoha's vast arsenal.

Enemies crashed to the ground beneath the Cat's blade and ninjas quivered before the Fox's horrifying techniques. Both shinobi were so proud and strong that when the Hokage had paired the two together, the village had expected it to be an unmitiaged disaster. Instead, the two had immediately snapped together, their teamwork so flawless it was almost like a reflex, subconscious action.

They fought together as if they were one whole being divided, by a fluke of fate, into two seperate entities. One would formulate the best battle plan for the situation and the other would instantanously understand their role and adapt to it as the attack was carried out. Neither said a word; the two simply shared a bond which allowed them to communicate through body language alone.

Because of their prowess, the team, known throughout ANBU as 'Scythe' for their fatal accuracy, took the most dangerous missions the Hokage had to offer. Assassinations, reconaissance and rescues that were vital to the village were always entrusted to either Sycthe or the elusive Hound, the three best and most trusted shinobi in the whole of Konohagakure.

Or the three best, and two most trusted.

Resting her chin on her interlinked fingers, Tsunade sent the two masked ANBU an expectant glare from behind her desk.

"Well?" she asked them impatiently.

"Target dispatched, Hokage-sama." came the deep, smooth voice of the Cat as the Fox adjusted his own mask and began to fidget under the Fifth's unwavering stare.

She nodded in satisfaction; she would expect no less from two of her elite.

"Dismissed." Tsunade waved a hand in their direction to show them that they were free to leave.

Both men bowed. The Cat jumped immediately from the window and the Fox gave a cheeky two-fingered salute before following after his partner. The Hokage gave a smile at his audacity before sighing and glancing towards the door.

"Did you see anything, Sakura?"

The pink-haired jounin entered, shaking her head at her mentor.

"Their teamwork was flawless, Hokage-sama. Neither Sasuke nor Naruto did anything to arouse suspicion." Sakura chewed her lip anxiously. "They still don't talk to each other much, though." her pink eyebrows furrowed. "How can two people be so close and yet so far from one another?"

Tsunade closed her eyes for a moment before she spoke.

"Subconsciously, they recognise the other; thats why their bodies react to each other instinctively. If Naruto was in danger, Sasuke would save him without a single thought - his body would just move by itself - and vice versa." her eyes opened and met Sakura's green-eyed gaze. "However, both Sasuke and Naruto are emotionally unstable. Their minds are reluctant to admit anything in the hope that if they stay unaware, nobody will be hurt."

Smiling glumly, she cast her eyes to look out of the window.

"Sad, isn't it?"

All Sakura could do was nod as tears filled her eyes.

How horrible must it be? How broken would a person have to become emotionally to kill any chance they had to be happy, thinking it would protect their most precious person?

She wondered how long it would be, before the inevitable happened and either Naruto or Sasuke snapped and wondered what the reprecussions of the resulting conflict would be.

Sakura Haruno once again closed her eyes and prayed to anything that was listening to grant her two best friends the happiness they deserved.

The happiness she knew they could have with each other.

* * *

The snap came five months later, after a mission to assasinate a group of rogue ninja who were plotting to kill the Hokage.

The task was by no means an easy one - the ninja were predominantly high-ranking jounins - and the Hokage had sent Sycthe, the Hound and the Hound's new partner to complete the task.

When they had arrived at the group's hideout on the outskirts of Fire Country, they had discovered that the rogues had split into two camps and that one was a little larger than the other.

Because of his inexperiance, it was decided that the Dolphin should take on the smaller group with the Hound whilst the larger group would be handled by Sycthe. If one team completed their part of the mission before the other, then that team would provide back-up if it was needed.

Not that any of them needed back-up.

Currently the Hound and the Dolphin were perched in a tree watching the battle unfolding around their two deadly teammates, their muscles tensed to jump at the first sign of jeopardy. At least, the Dolphin seemed ready to jump into battle, the Hound was simply leaning casually against the trunk of the tree and watching the two other ANBU with a trace of pride.

The Cat sent a current of Chidori through the air, catching five jounins with the white-hot claw of lightening. Leaping backwards through the air, he swung his kantana, slicing three enemies in the process, to land gracefully on his feet as he skidded backwards. In that moment, when all eyes were fixed on the Cat's impressive movements, the Fox struck.

The devastatingly powerful Rasen Shuriken decimated the rogue's numbers as the Fox leapt into view, slipping into a defensive battle stance. Without any hesitation, the Cat was behind him to protect his back like a true friend and comrade. The two threw an array of kunai and shuriken to force the nins to bundle together where the they could deal with them quickly and efficiantly.

Behind his mask, the Hound was smiling as he watched his two ex-students work together in that flawless manner that they had done since they had become genin so many years ago. Each offensive perfectly planned, each defensive movement executed so well it almost seemed choreographed.

Ironic, he thought, how two people could be such hated, vicious rivals and yet work together as one on the battlefield.

But, that was the way it had always been for the boys. First they had been enemies, then teammates, eventually even best friends, but always they had been rivals. The need to prove themselves to one another had pushed them to become stronger, better shinobi. It had also pushed them further away from each other, literally.

When Naruto had finally dragged Sasuke back to the village - one of them exhausted, the other unconscious - Kakashi had been so sure that the boys would set their friendship back on track. Actually, he had secretly believed that they would be lovers within a year, but unfortunately, they had seemingly ignored each other, save for a few forest-destroying sparring matches.

Though, the matches had been getting increasingly more frequent over the last month or so.

Kakashi figured it was just their way of relieving the painfully obvious tension - sexual or otherwise - that was between them.

As soon as the Cat killed the last rogue ninja with a well-placed shuriken, the team set off towards the Hokage's tower.

Not a word was spoken between the Cat and the Fox.

Tsunade was smiling when they arrived, something that either meant she was plotting, drunk or in anticipation of something, and since there was no bottle of sake to be seen, the Hound seriously hoped it was the latter.

"Mission report." she demanded.

"Mission completed - camp secured, rogue nins taken care of, Hokage-sama." the Hound intoned as the Fifth nodded her head happily. Her eyes slipped sideways to scruntinise the newest ANBU member.

"I trust your partner was acceptable?" she inclined her head towards the Dolphin, whose regulation uniform was torn and covered with dried blood.

"I barely had any work to do, Hokage-sama, he was very good." the Hound announced as the Hokage laughed at the double entendre of the words. The Fox made a strangled sound and the Dolphin's violent blush was nearly visible from beneath his mask. The Cat remained motionless and silent, as if he were a statue.

Tsunade smirked and shuffled the papers on her desk as she watched the Dolphin shift uncomfortably under the Fox's scandalised stare.

"Dismissed, ANBU," she told them as the Dolphin shot her a grateful look before teleporting quickly from the tower. The rest of the shinobi leapt out of the window.

Well, she aquiesced privately, at least having one ANBU with manners was better than having none at all.

Halfway across the village, Naruto was walking home with Sasuke. Or, rather, he was walking home _next to_ the unresponsive Uchiha. Because ever since he had come back, Sasuke had simply seemed to be going through the motions of life instead of actually of actually living it.

Which, considering saving Sasuke from certain death had consumed the vast majority of Naruto's life since he was thirteen, annoyed him a little bit. Actually, it was more than a little. Sasuke's apathetic attitude was really starting to piss him off.

In light of this, it was unsurprising when Naruto's next words words were, "Want to spar?".

Half an hour later, Naruto was tired and muddy, his breathing was heavier and blond spikes were damp with sweat. His eyes were alight, even in the darkness of the forest, with the thrilling combination of nighttime, fighting and Sasuke. The tang of blood and fear tasted metallic in his mouth, the acidic ache in his muscles burned and his heartbeat pounded like a war drum in his ears.

All of this, the excitement, pain and danger of living a life of violence, was something that made Naruto happy.

The feeling of sparring with Sasuke was unique. He never felt the same rush of exhilaration when he trained with another person; sure, when he and Gaara had last had a match Naruto had felt pain and excitement, but it had not been the same.

This, he realised, was because to him, Sasuke was dangerous.

Sasuke had power over him, more than Naruto would have liked him to have, and he was unsure as to whether Sasuke could be trusted with it. Not because he thought Sasuke would betray him or use the power for his own gain, that time had long since passed, but he was instead terrified that the other boy would simply choose to ignore him and slowly fade to nothing.

A violent stab of pain to his stomach bought Naruto's attention back to the present as he realised - far too late - that Sasuke had just punched him in the gut. He fell to his hands and knees, choking on blood and gasping for air, right at Sasuke's feet.

Looking up, Naruto expected the other's lips to be curled into that smug grin he had always hated, or to be met with a curt insult and a swift blow. Instead, he found black eyes filled with emptiness, a pale, expressionless face and a coldly detached fighting stance. Blankness as beautiful and as detached as the moon.

And just like the moon, Sasuke was lifeless.

Ever since his return, Naruto had watched in helpless panic as Sasuke had slowly drained away. His will to live was non-existant and it had become clear that Sasuke was inactively suicidal. He had, after all, spent most of his life working to avenge the deaths that plagued his memories and with Itachi and Danzo dead, he had become an avenger with no-one to avenge.

Sasuke had no family to live for and it was painfully obvious he had no intrest in creating a new one, despite many offers from beautiful, strong and intelligent women.

All the defeatist bullshit was really starting to get to Naruto.

In the begining, just after his release, Sasuke had been relatively easy to provoke, a few well-timed insults had sent him raging, but the anger had slowly dissapated until nothing but extreme violence could envoke any reaction in the last Uchiha.

Now even the violence had failed.

But Naruto refused to lose so easily. He had fought, bled and cried to bring Sasuke back home to him and there was no way in hell that he was going to give up on his best friend now.

So Naruto rose to his feet and turned to face his best friend before leaning forwards and doing the one thing he could remember provoking a reaction in the past:

He kissed him.

And, after barely a moment of frozen shock, Sasuke kissed back.

It was not a kiss in the normal sense of word. For them, it was a simple resolution; a way to convey the thoughts and emotions that neither boy was able to put into words. Both of them had learnt the hard way that love was a weapon, a volitile emotion to be manipulated and used against a person when it was need most. They had seen love's destructive side.

Sasuke's mouth tasted of copper, a mixture of blood and metal, and his lips were rough and unyeilding against Naruto's as they moved in perfect synchronisation. He gripped Naruto's arms, his hands like cuffs around the blond's biceps, and pulled the smaller boy closer. In response, Naruto ran his hands up Sasuke's muscled back and dug his blunt nails into the other boys shoulder blades.

A fight within a kiss, for neither would allow themselves to lose.

Pain and pleasure mixed into a perfect harmony as fears and insecurities were discarded.

For just one perfect moment, they allowed themselves to simply _feel_.

* * *

Exactly one year after their first intentional kiss, Naruto began to live at the Uchiha compound with Sasuke.

A house fire in Naruto's apartment block had rendered his home unable to be safely lived in, and so, with no relatives and no desire to find a new house at such short notice, Naruto had simply taken his things to Sasuke's. Neither mentioned it to one another; they just fell into a new pattern that they refused to admit was actually pleasant.

Naruto's apartment was fixed a month later.

When a new family moved in, Sasuke did not say a word.

The blond boy merely smiled at Sakura as she continued to speak and poured Sasuke another cup of black coffee.

***

Exactly one year after Naruto moved in, Sasuke was promoted to ANBU Captain.

With his promotion, the likelihood of his death being the result of an enemy assasination increased ten fold, with the chance already high due to Sasuke's skill, betrayal and family name it seemed unlikely that Sasuke would live into his thirties.

That night, Naruto was plauged by horrifying nightmares everytime he tried to sleep. Terrible dreams of fear, loss and heartbreak intermingled with a dying man in a Cat's mask that he would wake from screaming and crying. In the morning, Sasuke and Naruto ate together in silence.

The next night, Naruto slept blissfully for ten hours, safe in the circle of strong, muscled arms and comforted by the pale hand resting over his steadily beating heart. Neither man moved when they awoke; content to bask in the relief that they brought to each other, even whilst their eyes were closed.

Sasuke's bed began to gather dust, but no-one felt inclined to mention it.

***

Exactly one year after Sasuke's promotion, Naruto was near-fataly injured on a solo mission.

Tsunade concluded that he had been caught in some kind of genjutsu that had nearly exhausted him, however, he had broken free, completed the mission and dragged himself back the gates before collapsing on Konoha soil.

The Kyuubi was healing him, of course, but as Sasuke had watched the blond boy, bleeding and bruised, stretched out across a white hospital bed, he had felt an uncharacteristic wave of horror; what if he died? The village would be endangered, his friends would be emotionally crushed, Iruka and Tsunade would blame themselves, of course...

But what about Sasuke?

Naruto did not die. But for three nights Sasuke had been unable to sleep, eat or think about anything that didn't involve the blond. He had simply lay in their shared bed, staring at the blank ceiling and refused to admit that it felt like part of him was missing.

Sasuke had reached a startling realisation:

He had found a new purpose in life. One that did not involve murder or vengeance.

The Uchiha watched the blond sleep in his arms, his eyelashes casting shadows across his marked cheeks, and pressed his lips to the blond's ear.

In the warm, silent night, Sasuke Uchiha whispered his new purpose.

Against his chest, where Sasuke could not see, lips curved into a soft, triumphant smile.

_I love you too, Sasuke._

And finally, they were whole.

**-End-**

* * *

**Thanks for reading, hope you liked it! ****Feel free to drop me a review, but note that flames will be given to crazy people to use as they wish... you have been warned.**

**Loooove! **

**The Velocity Of Jellybeans**


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